


Sacrifice

by Option141



Category: Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:02:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26494561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Option141/pseuds/Option141
Summary: In another war at another point in time, when all seems lost; Terra must make a terrible choice. Cloud's POV added.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

_“I've been living on the far side_   
_I've been leaving footprints in your mind_   
_Tell me all your secrets_   
_I could be your key to the afterlife_   
_Feel the rhythm in my cold heart_   
_I could make your soul a work of art_   
_Just a touch of heaven_   
_Walking with the dead makes you feel alive...”_   
_-The Far Side_   
_Aviators_

Footprints In Your Mind

  


Pain erupted across her body as Terra lifted her head from the asphalt. The world was flooded with the ringing that had filled her ears from the moment the explosion had thrown the motorcycle. She felt blood seeping from her face before she felt the water from a broken hydrant raining on her back and arms. The ringing began to fade as she lifted her head, a wave of dizzying agony ripping through her spine. 

How had this happened?

They had been on the motorcycle, she could remember that clearly. Had she told him to drive? Yes, that seemed right.

Planting her screaming hands on the pavement she began to push herself up. There was no time, she knew that at least. Her stomach turned over as she got to her knees but with no food for over a day, she could only cough a splash of red across the street before her. With a groan, she flexed her hands against the ground, suddenly aware that her hands were screaming from more than the slide along the street. She knew the burn of over-casting far too well to think it could be anything else.

Ultima...

How many had she cast as they tore down the main street; his hands on the bars keeping them upright as they dodged wreckage and fires? She looked down briefly at her burned and raw hands, the skin cracking and bleeding from too much force at too high a rate. Her magical reserves were dangerously low from the chain of spells she had unleashed, perched behind him on the bike. Did she have an ether? She didn't know.

But wait; the crash...where was Cloud?! 

The dull ringing was replaced immediately with the pounding of her own heart as she forced herself to her feet. Her knees threatened to give out as she turned towards the twisted and burning metal that was left of the motorcycle. He was on his side on the street, body half twisted as he lay far too quietly near the fire that was consuming the front half of the cycle. Coughing, she forced her legs to work, pressing a hand to her side as she felt something crunch beneath her skin. She felt the warmth and damp of too much blood instantly and knew she was running out of time. The wound was mortal; there would be no escape from the chill settling into her arms and legs. The likelihood that she would bleed out before she could help him was very high. Keeping her hand to the wound to staunch the blood flow she stumbled across the ground, her legs finally giving out as she reached him.

“Cloud.” She coughed his name as she raised her free hand to try to turn him over. She felt more than heard him groan as he rolled onto his back. His eyes were closed and the side of his head a mess of quickly matting hair and blood. To her relief he opened his eyes and looked up at her, pain written across his face but his eyes aware and clear. 

“Can you move?” She was starting to hear her own voice, and it didn't sound good at all. To his credit he nodded and tried to sit up. Her free hand caught him as he nearly fell, slipping behind his shoulder and steadying him. His right shoulder was a mess, lucky to still be attached as far as she could figure. He rubbed at the less damaged side of his face as she reached down to her belt, retrieving her last ether and quickly chewing the tablet this world had compressed magical energy into. Her hand burned with agony as she raised it before her, the cure spell taking longer than she had hoped to begin.

He blinked at her in confusion as the spell began to knit his bones and skin to the point of proper function once again. Whatever she looked like, it must have been bad as he reached immediately for his sword only to find it gone, probably amid the wreckage somewhere; and his materia along with it. 

“You need help.” His voice was rough and she was surprised to find his expression to be one of fear as he looked her over. 

When she tried to answer, she doubled over and hacked more blood across the pavement. She felt him searching his pockets next to her, but she knew they were empty. It had taken everything just to get this far. With her head bent from coughing, she only saw the beginning of the flashes of light that heralded the end of the city. He stilled and looked up at the sky and she knew too well what he was seeing. 

The sun of this world shining an unholy red as the sky began to tear, leaking pure destruction through the gaps. The planes were colliding and it would take both worlds with them. They had started this ridiculous death run as a last resort to stop the collision but the creatures that Chaos had called to stop them had ended their run before they could ever reach the demon to kill him. No doubt the sky looked like a vision of hell itself as the two worlds bled into each other atmospheres first.

And she had made him drive....right into the heart of the approaching apocalypse.

He could be safe in the Palace of Light with the others right now, at least standing a chance of survival rather than trapped in the street with her. She raised her head to catch a shaking breath and found him looking at her with those glowing eyes so much like her own that it hurt to see them sometimes. She raised a hand to wipe the blood from her mouth and sat upright.

“Can you heal yourself?” His voice wasn't steady anymore. With the stoicism gone, she could hear the concern for her amid the fear.

“No time...” She ground out as a deep breath sent more blood spilling from her side and over hand. 

He saw it and his eyes steeled; telling her what was coming before he could reach for her. She brushed his hand away as she forced herself to her feet again. He was not carrying her out of here if she had anything to do with it. Tilting her head back she looked towards the sky, suddenly aware that her left eye wasn't doing much in the way of helping her see. The mottled bruise that had once been the sky over Erasmus glowed blue and white as lightning began to open holes in the fabric of reality, great pieces of earth and what she thought were the buildings of another world's city beginning to fall through. Behind it, the red sun began to bleed, becoming little more than a dripping stain behind the debris fall that would soon cover the whole of the city.

“Terra, we have to go. I'll help-”

“No.” She had the strength to keep her voice firm as he stopped halfway through getting to his feet, eyes focused on her face. “You need to go.”

“Not without you.”

“Yes, you will.” 

His brow furrowed as he turned what she thought of as a glare towards her. Even now he wouldn't say an unkind word to her. He didn't even know who she was, his memories of previous wars still blessedly locked away in his mind. It hadn't mattered though, he had remained himself in the face of the new threat, just as he had time and again. He didn't have to remember her; she had decided that at the beginning of this nightmare. A single act of kindness in the first war was all she had ever needed to hold him in regard. He had protected her from herself, and that was more than enough. 

“Terra-”

“I need a favor.” He stared up at her for a moment before getting to his feet nearly towering over her as he rolled his newly repaired shoulder. 

“Favor? You need a hospital, even after healing, let's go--”

She backed away as he reached out to take her arm. He blinked at her in surprise and for a moment she thought he was going to pick her up against her will and carry her out of there. Thankfully he didn't, she didn't have the strength to fight him off at this point.

“I need you to go back.” Terra began, her voice stronger now but still rough from the smoke. 

“No.”

“Cloud, they need you.” 

He stopped and just looked at her, those cold eyes holding her tired gaze. He set his jaw and curled his hands into fists at his sides as he turned to face her fully.

“You need me.”

“Not this time. I can do this on my own.” Realization was beginning to dawn on his face as she reached into the top of her dress to retrieve a magicite from the small pocket she had sewed into the bodice. It was still cool despite being kept so close to her skin, the chill of the glassy stone a reminder of the sheer destructive potential hidden within. Sometimes the last resort had to be used, no matter how she felt about it. The Returners had made the pact when the last dragon had fallen. Never would they unleash the monstrosity within on the face of the earth. The War of the Magi must never be repeated. But still the oath of the Triad to the Espers haunted her mind. They would come if she paid for their aid. They would mete out destruction if she gave them the only acceptable payment in their eyes.

“What is that?” 

“A magicite. It's from my world. Like materia.”

“Can you cast with it? We can get you out of here and use it.”

“It doesn't work like that.” It hurt to shake her head but she was beginning to fill the prick of tears at the corners of her eyes and she needed the moment to look away from him.

“No.” He had caught on; as she knew he would. He could wear a mask of stoicism for an eternity but it would never hide the heart behind it. His understanding was instinctive and she could not begin to grasp the gut punch she had just dealt him.

“I'm not going home this time, Cloud.” She said gently, gazing up at him through the blood soaked strands of green hanging down into her face. “But you have to. You have to get them home.”

“Terra I don't understand why-”

“You don't have to.” She gestured faintly with the hand gripping the magicite. Beneath their feet the street began to quake, rocked by the countless pieces of earth and city that were falling through the holes in the sky. “You just have to do it. I can stop Chaos and save Erasmus. But I have to go alone. They will only accept one payment for their calling. They will take all present with me if I don't--”

“Terra-”

“Run.”

There was a strange sense of peace budding beneath her ribs as a gentle smile curled her lips. He looked dumbfounded as he stared at what must have been a ruined face. The epicenter of the Summon began to form beneath her as she turned away from him, the last of her magic reserves flowing into the stone in her hands. She was sprinting down the street before he could stop her; her body somehow holding together on pure adrenaline as she ran. Long fingers unhooked her shredded cape and let it fall behind as the stone began to grow hot. Her heart ached for her own world, still dying from an apocalypse so like the one she raced towards. She told herself that Celes and Locke would be able to stop Kefka and at least save their world if not countless lives. They simply had to do it without her. There were too many lives in Erasmus to not do all she could to save them. Too many innocents caught in a war of Gods and Demons for her to just stand aside and let it happen.

The ground rocked and she stumbled but still the white line of magic continued to radiate outwards from her in an ever growing circle. The street beneath her sloped upwards and somewhere along the incline, she lost her breath and found herself struggling far too hard for more. Still she ran, her legs and side screaming more than any other hurt she bore. Looking up, she could see the form of Chaos hovering above the city, arms spread wide as he forced the worlds together in a riot of madness and a bending of reality. The sky above her tore open again, the atmosphere of another world spilling into this one and forming a roaring storm unlike any she had seen.

Terra stopped at the top of the hill and wrapped her hands around the magicite, holding it to her breast, suddenly aware of the rush of blood from her side. She couldn't breathe. It was getting harder to see and she could feel her heart reaching its limit. Surely one of her lungs had collapsed, so she shouldn't have been able to get this far by any means. Another cough and another gout of blood across her chest and hands. For the first time in her two and a half years of knowing freedom, she longed for her parents. She wished her mother would hold her hand and her father would hold her. Knowing they would never come, she held her hands out before her, offering the stone to the sky.

“Gods...” She coughed again, trying to remember the words. “Gods and Devils fulfill your oath to my father's people. Crusader, end this! I give my life as payment!”

She opened her hands as the magicite flared to life, a brilliant white that blinded her even as the stone flew out of her hands to hover above her. Time seemed to slow as she heard their voices, echoing off the buildings around her; a trio of voices speaking as one that vibrated her broken bones and filled her mind like a madness she couldn't fight through.

“The name of your enemy, Child of Two Worlds?”

“Chaos, himself.”

There was another flare of light as the Triad considered her choice and along with it her payment. She felt them manifest on the street around her, feel the weight of their eyes on her as they measured the value of her life and made their judgments of her soul. When she heard the rattling of ephemeral weapons being drawn she only felt relief at being found worthy. A strange sort of smile curled her lips as a sense of relief flooded through her. If only she could have known what in her they deemed worthy. The evil she had done or the rebellion she had led in its wake?

The vaporous spear that erupted from her chest first stopped her heart as it bathed in her life force. The spear prepared, the first warrior launched into the sky. Next, a sword of energy and light tore through the wound in her side, fueling itself on a lifetime of hurt before it was withdrawn and taken into the sky by the second armor clad figure. The third wrapped its clawed hand around her throat and began to squeeze forcing her last breath from her remaining lung. 

Terra felt something then, in that last moment. A strange cool wind across her back and shoulders, like hands holding her upright in the grip of the demon who would kill her. There was no thinking or feeling as the demon released her and sailed off into the sky leaving her to collapse to the pavement as her very soul went with him into the battle. Her vision was simply vanishing from the outside moving in; a gray static like a blank expanse of fog beyond comprehension. She had expected darkness a cold embrace that would lead her down into sleep and nothingness at last. But, as she gave herself to the emptiness and let it drag her down like a broken doll; a voice broke through. Gentle and soft like the early morning, a smile evident in the tone.

_“You didn't think he'd let you go, did you?”_

A woman? Perhaps her mother? She didn't know.

_“Here, take him this.”_

When she opened her eyes, heaven and earth had traded places and she barely had the sense to realize she was laying on her side like a corpse. Fingers that had been broken a moment more gripped weakly at the stem of the lily in her hands, determined to not lose it. Something warm pressed against the side of her neck, and waited a moment. A wrist checking for a heartbeat? Her mind was in a haze still even as a pair of hands rolled her onto her back and began to lift her from the ground. She didn't have to see him to know it was Cloud, but...how?

He was cursing loudly as he ran back down the street carrying her and she slowly began to realize that she was hearing it. Her senses were coming back and she gripped at the little flower harder. The warmth was returning to her body with each passing moment. She had given her life to the Triad to destroy Chaos, she should not still be alive. Had it failed? Had she failed?

No...The spear, she had seen the spear. She had felt the life leave her. Then...

A scream jarred her throat as consciousness came back all at once. Light, color and sound flooded in all at once with an intensity that hurt like a physical blow. To his credit, Cloud's steps only briefly faltered as he kept running, holding her to his chest. Around them, destruction rained from the sky and she watched over his shoulder as the open wound in the heavens began to close. The bleeding sun seemed to rewind; its lost parts sucking back into it as if they had never drifted away. Yet still, shards of earth and city slipped through, falling far too slowly into the world below. Amid it all, Chaos and the Triad had vanished, leaving no trace of them behind. They had destroyed him, it was the only answer.

“You back with me?” He called to her over the din of the continuing apocalypse. He didn't look at her as he dodged the twisted wreckage of some vehicle before tearing off down an alleyway with an overhang. Somehow he kicked a door open in the side of a brick building and heaved them both inside as the sky outside began to roar. He carried her into the cafe's empty kitchen before falling to his knees on the tile, his strength spent at last. Yet still, his hands were gentle as he laid her carefully against a closed metal cabinet.

“What's happening?”

“The worlds are breaking apart again. Could take us all with them.”

“The Palace? You-”

“Never made it. Didn't try.” He sank down onto the tile floor beside her as something hit the roof with a heavy thud. Exhausted and confused, she sat there in the darkness, her back against leaning hard against the cold metal while a nightmare rained from the sky and into the streets. There may have been no windows and only the light from the door leading into the back alley, but she could hear the crush of the debris and the crumbling of buildings being struck heralding the apocalypse still raging outside.

“Didn't try?”

“Was never going to.” He leaned back against the cabinet beside her, the bruising on his arm apparent even in the weak light as he held up a small glowing orb for her to see. 

Familiar shades of green not unlike her own hair and tendrils of white drifted about the surface of the translucent sphere, its delicate glow barely enough light with which to see his face. It was a materia, but she knew nothing about them. This one felt different somehow, almost like she did know it. 

“I don't understand. “

“It's a Revive materia. I've been hanging onto it for a long time. If it hadn't worked, I'd have gone with you.” 

“Revive?” Her heart clenched at his implication.

“Yeah, like bringing someone back to life.” He turned it over in his hand and she saw scuff marks on one side of it. “I found my sword broken in a gutter, but this was still there. I didn't think it would work.”

“I still don't understand.”

“In my world, when someone gives up their life willingly, you can't save them. “ He stared at it for a moment, his thumb brushing gently across the scuff marks. “I tried to use it to save her and it wouldn't work. She just..left. So I kept it and put everything I had into it; thinking maybe one day it could help me stop another sacrifice. And it did.”

“You...Are you telling me that you cultivated ReRaise, when it didn't exist in your world?”

“Is that what you call it? I just cast before you died and well...it worked. I thought I had gotten there too late but... You were breathing when I picked you up.” His hand closed around the materia and he turned his eyes to her in the darkness. She met his glowing gaze quietly and unblinking, trying to wrap her head around what he had done. “I watched them kill you, Terra. You shouldn't be alive.”

Her hand tightened again around the flower stem and the brush of the single leaf on the stalk made her look down and realize it was there. It was a pretty thing, despite the shadows; probably pink or yellow in the center. As she looked at it she could almost hear that voice again and she sat up and turned that singular moment over again and again in her mind, trying to make sense of it. She really had died and there had been no flowers on that hill. The hands she had felt and the cool rush of wind. This woman he talked about, it could only have been her.

“I think this is yours.” Her voice sounded strange as it echoed back to her off the metal in the kitchen. He sat up as she held it out to him, both hands open as they supported the elegant shape of the lily. 

Cloud was silent as he stared down at her open hands, his brow furrowed with some terrible clash of emotion she couldn't fathom. To her surprise, his hand was trembling as he took it from her. His gloves creaked faintly as he turned it over, staring at the little thing like it shouldn't exist.

“Did she say anything?” His words were flat and empty but that did nothing to mask the palpable heartbreak seizing him as he held it. 

“I was admonished for thinking you'd let me leave and told to give you this.” Terra shook her head and held up her empty hands as if showing she was unarmed would diffuse the situation. “She didn't tell me her name.”

“Aerith.” He said suddenly his gaze moving from the flower to her face. “Her name was Aerith and she made you stay.”

“She didn't do it for me.”

“No, she wouldn't have. Not her style.” Still struggling with the flower's existence, he hung his head and she heard the slump of his shoulders against the cabinet. 

“Well, then.” Despite her exhaustion from having been dragged back into the world of the living, her touch was light as she drew the flower from his hand. She leaned over, ignoring the obvious confusion on his face as she tucked the stem into the strap of his pauldron. “This might be. So, keep it close.”

His small scoff was one of surprise as she patted the strap a moment later, ensuring that the flower was secure. She leaned back against the cabinet again, flinching as the last of the thudding and crumbling outside at last came to an end, leaving only a dreadful silence undertoned by the roar of distant fires in its wake. It seemed that the apocalypse was ending and not taking them with it. How many of these was she going to survive? One had been enough but two was simply ridiculous.

“You didn't even know her...how did you--?”

“Don't have to know someone to respect or understand them. Don't need someone to know you to protect them, either.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because it's true.”

“I know, it's part of why I didn't go back.”

“Hm?” Terra blinked at him in confusion, her brow furrowing as she tried to get a glimpse of his face in the shadows again. His eyes still held that glow he had called Mako as he glanced her way for a brief moment. He was struggling with something again, some ache in his heart that he couldn't work his way around or express.

“When you wouldn't let me help you, I remembered. I remembered everything. Three wars, nightmares and death...and you.”

She dropped her gaze as tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes, her hands curling into fists against the floor. Her shoulders had begun to tremble when he set a gloved hand atop her own. He was quiet as tears streamed down her face, relief washing over her at last. It had been a struggle, keeping mostly silent about their lost friendship. He had been better off without remembering the endless chain of war they kept finding themselves thrust into, but she had not been better off being forgotten. Still, she had trusted him with everything she hadn't been able to do up until this point and he had risen to every challenge like countless days hadn't passed and the trust was still there.

“You good?” He asked as her trembling finally began to subside, his hand still grasping her own.

“She said you wouldn't let me go.” Her voice was strained from weeping as she choked out the words. “Said it like I should have known.”

“She wasn't wrong.” He was smirking at her, she could hear it. That same vaguely amused look she had come to know so well no doubt on his face. He was teasing her and she hated it.

“Don't be an ass.”

“It's in my nature.” He was chuckling softly, a sound she would never get used to. Not once had she actually heard him laugh, but she was terrible with jokes and his sense of humor seemed very skewed. But he didn't seem to be laughing at her and that at least was a comfort. “You should know that I'll come get you. Whether you like it or not. We've done too much already to just walk away and have it end.”

Wiping her face on her sleeve, she leaned back against the cabinet once more, her body feeling like dead weight. When he let go of her hand he raised an arm over her head and allowed her to press against his side as he draped his arm around her shoulders. The weight of his arm was a comfort and from the way he rubbed gently at her arm, she was a comfort to him as well. 

“We're stuck with each other.”  
Terra laughed gently despite her exhaustion and he chuckled again.

“Get some sleep. It'll be a while before we can go find survivors.”

“I'm glad you're back, Cloud.” She mumbled, resting her head in the crook of his neck, smiling when he rested a cheek against her hair.

“I think I've missed you too, Terra.”

  


Thank you for taking the time to read this wild ride. Cloud's point of view will be posted next.


	2. Walk The Road

“ _Nobody wants to walk the road alone_ _  
We're ten thousand miles from home  
And I don't wanna disappear  
Where do we go from here?  
Nobody wants to play a useless part  
In matters of the heart  
I'm standing here so far away  
I'll meet you at the end someday...”_

-Meet You At The End

-Aviators

Walk The Road

The motorcycle roared above the din as Cloud gunned the engine. A slight twist of the handlebars guided them around the flaming wreckage of a car, the burning bit of rock that hit it still fueling the blaze. Behind him, Terra was kneeling rather precariously on the seat, her hands held high as she formed yet another of those blue blasts that took out whole portions of the street. At least she fired them far enough ahead that he could dodge the damage. He ducked his head down as she released the blast, taking out two buildings on the left side of the street. He didn't bother to look back as they crumbled into the street.

He still couldn't fathom how she had convinced him to drive straight towards hell itself with her on the back. They had failed to beat back the monster that called itself Chaos and as it claimed victory it had begun to crush the two planes the city of Erasmus lay between together. Cloud hadn't even tried to figure out what such a plan was even supposed to accomplish. It had seemed pointless from the beginning, but it was going to take all of them out in the process anyway. The woman who told them she represented Light was out of power as far as he knew and could not send them home. Her palace would apparently survive the cataclysm but being trapped in a single building with the whole of the army she had called to aid her did not sound even remotely tenable.

Terra, however had simply refused to give up and accept defeat. She was a strange one, a warrior who looked like she shouldn't be fighting at all. Shorter and slightly more curvy than he would have expected for her size; the woman was more spitfire than the terrified waif as he had expected upon first glance. To make matters more interesting, she had rallied them into the fight, throwing orders and assigning tasks like she was used to doing so. The others just followed, most of them seeming to accept her without complaint. That seemed to suit her just fine. But, when she saw him...

She had said that she knew him. It was impossible of course as he had no memory of her whatsoever. He would remember hair like that and anyone who fought in a dress and cape. This all would have been easy enough to deal with, but things got worse from there. She was a powerful mage, could fly with ease and then there was that creature. He'd never seen anything like it. And to make things more interesting, he had come to find both her and that creature she became beautiful in an odd sort of way. More like something from a legend rather than a normal woman. 

It was not an ideal situation.

But then, she started giving him orders. Not just orders she thought were best; the right orders. She put him where he could do the most good as if she did actually know him. She threw him into the front of the fight like she had no doubt that he could handle whatever was coming at them. And, that look in her eyes when she would nod approvingly at him after the fight...She really did know what he could do. He hated it. She was unnerving, inhuman and clearly a force of nature. But it was far easier working with her rather than arguing or ignoring her. He had held his ground on tactics and decision making and to his surprise, she had welcomed it. Then, when the fight was over, she'd leave him to care for himself as if used to it; tossing him restoratives as if to save him from having to ask and going elsewhere.

They worked well together, even he couldn't deny that.

And then, everything began to fail. The look on her face when Chaos rose above the city was not fear but fury. The sight of her shouting for everyone to retreat into the palace for protection before sprinting across the street towards a motorcycle laying on its side might have stayed with him forever if forever was an option anymore. Those unnerving blue eyes were hard as ice as she began to haul the cycle upright. He was halfway down the palace steps and charging towards the street when she got it steady. Sure enough, she looked at it entirely confused and actually a little angry. He'd stopped behind her and explained the motorcycle and she looked crestfallen.

He had known what was coming the moment she looked back at him over her shoulder. He had just crossed his arms and stared back waiting for her to think before the inevitable order came.

“You drive, I cast.”

A simple nod and here they were; racing like maniacs towards certain death. At least she had amazing balance on the back of the cycle. He chalked her understanding of aerodynamics and balance up to her being able to fly. It was especially useful when Chaos' hounds started diving out of the sky at their clearly insane suicide run. She had said something about not being able to get a shield up and keep them alive so he had started dodging, which would have been fine in the open streets of Midgar but Erasmus' streets were now littered with wreckage and fires.

Another Ultima flew over his head and he guided them left around a creature that tried to tackle the cycle. They wouldn't make it much farther, there was no doubt of that, but if he could get her close enough to fly at Chaos, maybe she could do something...anything. The city had a large population and he could hear the screaming as the citizens were dragged out of buildings to die in the streets at the hands of these bizarre bulbous creatures Chaos had created.

All at once, the beasts pulled away and the road before them was relatively clear. Behind him, Terra lowered herself back onto the seat, slipping an arm about his chest to steady herself. Even with the rush of wind, he could smell the singed flesh of her hand. She was in bad shape and might not even know yet. Her forehead fell against his back and he knew she wasn't going to be able to fly anywhere, no matter what she wanted. Terra was exhausted and possibly entirely spent in terms of magical capability. But if he stopped...if he failed...

Gritting his teeth, Cloud gunned the motorcycle harder on the open roadway, keeping to the middle and dodging as widely as possible. The engine roared like a fiend and he ducked low to keep the wind resistance down. At this speed, they would certainly die if he lost control. Even then, it struck him that there were worse things. He didn't want to fail the woman behind him. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with but hadn't given credence too in a long time. There were too many failures stacked against him already. He may not know this crazy, sword wielding mage well at all, but failing her was not an option. She had put so much faith in him from the beginning; her expectations far too lofty for a normal person, but certainly nothing he couldn't do.

It was as she started getting into that kneeling position again that he looked up and saw a nightmare descending from the sky. Chunks of flaming earth and pitch cast outwards for Chaos to add to the destruction coming directly towards their path, he shot off to the side and raced along the paving in front of the buildings as the street erupted into flames. Terra cried out behind him and threw her other arm around him, her hand hanging uselessly in his lap.

“Just stay down, we might be able to make it further.”

“You know I can't do that, Cloud.” She called over the din, her voice seeming weak and strained. How many spells had she thrown in the last five minutes alone?

“Terra-!”

But she wasn't listening. He could feel her actually get to her feet on the seat, her knees pressing into his back while one hand gripped his shoulder. He knew the wall was coming before the green dome fell about them. He swallowed his argument when a building ahead lost masonry that collided with the shield and fell helplessly to the side instead of killing them.

“Just keep going!” She shouted.

Well, they were going to die anyway so...He guided the cycle back out into the street and plowed ahead, his eyes beginning to burn from the wind and smoke. In a way, he knew what was coming when the shield began to flicker. Her strength was failing and..yes...there was the next volley of earth and fire.

“Terra, get down!”

She began to drop behind him but it was too late. He tried to avoid it, but the ground in front of them erupted and took the front tire with it. One of his hands slid off the steering and slammed into his knee, the other tried to turn them slightly towards a safer slide but the now flaming and broken tire was providing no purchase and they spun before the ground rushed up to meet them.

\- - -

“Cloud.” He didn't recognize the voice and could barely hear it through the ringing in his ears. Hands on his side brought sheer agony to the front of his mind and he swallowed a scream on instinct. _Do not give away your position. Do not give away your position._

As the agony set in he opened his eyes, hoping to take stock of his injuries. Through the mess of blood that was the left side of his face he caught sight of...something. It was twisted and soaked with blood, the long strands of hair that might have once been green hanging lank and matted about a battered and broken form.

“Can you move?” That voice...the gravel of destroyed vocal chords. Oh God no...Terra.

Her face was destroyed. There was no way the eyes was working anymore and her jaw was probably cracked in several places. Her nose was bleeding heavily as far as he could figure and...When he saw it, he tried to sit up, his spine trying instantly to fail. His arm didn't catch him for some reason and a glance told him why. Torn open completely, the bones splintered and probably irreparable at this point. Her free hand came behind him and caught him, though why she bothered, he didn't know. Her side...she shouldn't be alive. And she wasn't, those kind of injuries...Terra was already dead, she just didn't know it yet. He'd seen this too many times; death was going to catch up.

He watched as she crammed the last ether tablet between them into her mouth and chewed as best as her broken jaw would allow. He started to protest as she raised her hand towards him, but the sight of her palm stopped him. It too was absolutely destroyed; the blackened skin cracking open and bleeding as the familiar light flowed outwards and into him. The burn of his body knitting back together by magical means was familiar but...why. She needed it, not him. Glancing at the face again, he started casting about for the sword he had strapped to the side of the motorcycle, but it was gone and with it...no...no he could save her. He had to save her.

“You need help.” He choked out, his throat tightening as the horror set in.

Terra dropped her head and blood splashed across the street near his hand as she coughed. His hands were in his pockets immediately searching for something, anything that might help her. He just needed to heal her enough to find his materia. Maybe he could stop it this time. He had to stop it. He wouldn't let this happen again. His heart began to hammer in his chest as his hands came away from his pockets empty. They had used everything they had to get here.

When the sky began to flash white and blue he looked up, his eyes falling on the flickering of silent lightning as it split the sky. His mind tried to wrap around the strange shapes splitting open between the bolts and realized that his mind would never be able to sufficiently process holes being torn not only in the sky, but in the fabric of reality. The sun continued to blaze behind this nightmare in a vivid and aching shade of red like a wound in the sky, swollen and agonized.

It was like looking hell in the face.

He looked back to her, watching as she struggled to breathe. Her shoulders were shaking and she already looked like a ghost. She wasn't going to make it very far. If he could get her off the street, she could die in quiet with him at her side. Maybe he could find his materia. Maybe she'd let him...

“Can you heal yourself?” He noticed the quaver in his voice immediately and knew he wasn't going to get through this well at all. If he could just keep her from making the decision. If he could squeeze a little more time, they might be able to run.

“No time...” She tried to breathe and he watched with rising horror as a gout of blood washed over her hand and ran down her side in a small river. That lung had collapsed and her kidney was no doubt destroyed. She was going to fight him and he was going to have none of it. He reached for her, intending to get her to sit until he could get up and carry her. But she slid his hand aside with a gentle brush, guiding it away with a smoothness she shouldn't have been able to manage.

She titled her head back as he started to rise and he saw the scraping on the side of her neck. She shouldn't have had any throat left from the look of it. Enough, he was taking the decision out of her hands.

“Terra, we have to go. I'll help-” _Don't say it. Don't say it. Don't say what she said._

“No.” He froze mid crouch, his heart hammering in his chest as somewhere in the back of his mind he began to scream. “You have to go.”

“Not without you.” _Don't do this._

“Yes, you will.”

He stared at her unblinking as she tried to keep her hand over that gaping wound. She looked like a broken doll in the light of the fire still burning behind them.

“Terra-”

“I need a favor.” He stared up at her, watching as fresh blood from that head wound he couldn't quite see ran down her face in a renewed stream. Her skull was cracked badly from the impact with the asphalt and here she was standing in front of him like it was nothing. A favor? The head injury was driving her mad, that was the only answer. He rolled his shoulder, taking stock to see if the damage had been repaired enough to just pick her up and run out of there. He would not let her die here in the street like her life didn't matter.

“Favor? You need a hospital, even after healing, let's go--” _Don't let her panic. Just grab her and get her out of here. If she panics, she'll drop._

He reached for her, prepared to lunge and hoped she wouldn't start to fight and scream. If she died in his arms...he could handle that. As long as she wasn't alone. She flinched back from his hands, her eyes narrowing as she watched his face. He faltered mid step, staring at her as the realization hit him.

“I need you to go back.” Terra began, her voice getting strangely stronger as she stared him down.

“No.”

“Cloud, they need you.” 

“You need me.” _Don't do this..._

“Not this time. I can do this on my own.”

The hammering in his chest seemed to go cold and slow as he looked at her face. He felt panic beginning to build behind his ribs. She reached into the bodice of her dress and pulled a strange stone from a hidden pocket against her sternum. Most of the stone was a faint and glassy green with a red core that pulsed with a delicate light that felt far too similar to a heartbeat for his comfort. She cradled it in her hand like it was some kind of holy relic, her eyes misting as she turned it over gently.

“What is that?”

“A magicite. It's from my world. Like materia.”

_Hope._

“Can you cast with it? We can get you out of here and use it.”

“It doesn't work like that.” She shook her head slowly and looked away.

“No.” His skin went cold as he watched tears trail tracks through the blood on her face. She already knew she wasn't going to make it and had made the decision.

“I'm not going home this time, Cloud.” Her voice was quiet and calm again like nothing was wrong at all. “But you have to. You have to get them home.”

“Terra I don't understand why-”

“You don't have to.” She turned that strange stone over in her hand and looked like she was about to speak when the ground beneath them gave a shake that rattled his bones. It wasn't strong enough to knock them over but it was a herald of horrors to come. “You just have to do it. I can stop Chaos and save Erasmus. But I have to go alone. They will only accept one payment for their calling. They will take all present with me if I don't--”

“Terra-” _Please, don't do this..._

“Run.”

Cloud lunged for her, but she turned on a heel and moved away far faster than she should have been able. She was by no means sprinting to any effect but she still managed to get away quickly. Her steps were faltering wildly and she was leaving splashes of red across the road as she began to charge up the hill. He started after her but stopped quickly. She had unhooked her cape and he watched as it twisted in the air before falling to the ground, a lump of barely translucent chiffon painted with flowers by a delicate hand. His heart began to hammer painfully against his ribs as he looked from where it lay to where she was running up the hill, her green hair trailing behind her in blood dampened curls.

He had seen that cape before, every time he spoke with her but...why... was it...His eyes refused to move as it lay crumpled and stained. And for a moment...Roses...

The shock went through him like lightning, his vision blurring as his brain seemed to vibrate in his skull. He grasped at his head and staggered as a floodgate slammed open within; memories spilling forth in a torrent. The first time he had seen her, it was the beast; beautiful, dangerous and mad from wild magic. He'd met her as a human after the fight and he had not been prepared for her thanks or her abrupt kindness. They had gotten along well enough at first, but unlike so many, she never tried to make him laugh. She accepted his stoicism without a fuss and just kept facing battle after battle, her gentleness never wavering.

With each passing war, she became more of a terror. He would find her and it would be like they had never separated. They could gauge each other on the battlefield, predict what the other would need and end battles in timed blitzes of magic and brute force. Eventually it became effortless and they were able to switch roles with with a glance and nod, him becoming the caster and her...that sword was no toothpick after all. They had built up a trust in each other, relatively quickly as far as he was concerned. Her voice had eventually become a familiar comfort shouted across the battlefield. Eventually she did try to make him laugh and it had actually worked. Granted, there was liquor involved, but it was still a victory.

Through countless wars and endless suffering, she never stopped being kind. Never tried to force anything out of him. He had thought it was just her nature. But every time that clown appeared.. he saw her trauma; saw the battlefield in her eyes and her lost years creeping up on her. There were many wars locked in her head that he would never understand just as she would never know the ones locked in his.

It was all back; and it felt like time was stitching together after being torn.

The pain began to recede and Cloud straightened as he watched her run, heart threatening to break at the way she half crumbled over a missed step.

_Not alone..._

She had done so much even when he hadn't remembered her and he wasn't going to let that go without a greater fight than they had put up against Chaos. He couldn't help her without his materia...he didn't stand a chance. She should have fallen already. He was vaguely aware that he was shaking as he ran the few steps to the burning motorcycle. Gripping hot metal, he pulled the cycle onto its side, his eyes moving too quickly. His skin began to complain as the heat from the twisted wreckage fought his hands and threatened to burn through his gloves.

Telling himself the blurring from his eyes was from the smoke, he left the bare cycle behind and began to run along the road back to where the crash began. He could see the Palace of Light radiating bands of rainbow and gold in the distance and faltered. Curling his hands into fists at his sides, he resumed his search; it wouldn't be a life to live if he went through this again; not with the blood of another willing sacrifice on his hands. It was a struggle not to look back towards the Palace and the false safety it offered as he bent over a crumpled back tire. If if he had carried her, they never would have made it back to survive.

Nothing here.

He straightened and looked around the street once more in a last effort. If he didn't find it...he'd go up the hill to her. A few more seconds and then he would go back, he told himself. He could get to her side in time. She had to know that he remembered. If that meant just being there while the apocalypse took them both then so be it.

The curious twist of metal poking out from behind a fallen concrete pillar caught his attention immediately. There was no way that was a support. His legs screamed in pain as he forced himself to run towards it. It took more of his strength to push the pillar off his broken buster sword than he would have expected. Magic from Terra's world must not replace blood just like the spells in his world. He didn't bother to worry about how much blood he had lost as he bent to retrieve the sword. The hilt broke off in his grasp, sending the crumpled and twisted top half of the blade falling back to the road with a clatter. Had they hit the pillar and lost the sword? It seemed to be the only option for this kind of damage.

His materia was missing; the slots on the blade were completely empty. A flicker of color on the ground called his attention to the countless shards of shattered materia strewn in the gutter behind the pillar. The energy faded from the shards as he watched and he dropped the hilt as new anguish lurched in his chest. He had only needed one to try and now...he'd kept it for so long.

He dropped to a knee and reached for the shards in a futile attempt to make use of them. They were little more than colored glass pieces now and he let them fall from his fingers and back to the street in hopelessness. Raising a gloved hand to his face, he wiped the nervous sweat from his brow as the weight of his only remaining choice settled on him. The memories had brought back missing pieces of his heart and it was breaking apart like the glass in front of him as he forced himself to accept the weight of his decision.

Pressing a hand to his knee, Cloud started getting to his feet, ready to run up the hill. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glow of a familiar green tucked into a crevasse between two parts of the broken pillar. At the sight of that glow, he threw himself bodily at the pillar, heaving the stone out of the way with a shoulder and reaching for it with a desperate hand. The Restore materia glowed gently in his hand, perfect and undamaged safe for the scuff on its side. He had thrown it against a wall so long ago when it had failed; when he had failed. It was warm in his hands as he felt its energy buzz along his arm like a live wire.

His hand closed around the orb and he was on his feet and sprinting back down the road before he had time to think about it. In seconds he was halfway up the hill, his eyes falling on her back as she was holding up that strange stone. It lit up with a brilliant white light as it left her hands and floated almost lazily upwards. Surely she was speaking to it, but he couldn't hear her over the sound of his own breath.

They simply phased into existence around her. Three hulking figures cast in the light and shadow of a wholly unfamiliar world. Their faces were blank as they stood over her, gods and demons staring down at her as they shimmered like a mirage. The world around him seemed to go silent as the one closest to her began to reach for the wicked looking spear tied to its back. He was screaming before the spear plunged into her back. As the being pulled back, it pulled the blade free and it glimmered wetly, coated in her blood. The figure solidified into a being that was both terrifying and beautiful before it left her behind and rocketed into the sky.

The materia in his hand flared to life, nearly as blinding as the light from her magicite. His vision swam with translucent green as he tried to focus enough to start casting. The focus fled as the second figure drew a sword and drove it into the wound in her side, blood leaving her now destroyed body in a rush. There was no focus or even thinking as the sword withdrew and that being solidified as well. It hurt to even look at the creature as it turned and joined its companion in the flight towards Chaos. His mind couldn't even begin to grasp the beings as they formed, reality seemed to twist and reshape around them as his mind struggled to rationalize their existence. To comprehend a god was not something a human mind was wholly capable of.

There was a brief pause as the third figure grabbed her throat and began to choke her. The pause was enough for him to start thinking. He gripped the materia and raised it towards Terra. There was something strange about it now, though. The spells within materia felt like plucked harp strings vibrating against the caster's bones as they went to choose one to cast. Restore only had two of the vibrating strings; two spells to cast. Or...it used to. The third vibrating string was half wild and maddening as it came to life for the first time. It sang against his soul like a familiar note in the chorus of an angels song. And as he glanced down at the orb in his hand, its shade had changed slightly. Before it was the same glow of the lifestream and now it was...it had been so long now and he still remembered the color of her eyes. The way they shone when she stood in the sun and the mischievous flicker when she laughed.

_Aerith..._

Maybe...

Fixating on that string, Cloud yanked on it with every ounce of strength his soul had left. He didn't even know what it was and he still threw everything into it. The scent of lilies washed over him in a wave as light exploded around him. For a moment Erasmus was gone and he was certain he was standing in a meadow. The breeze was cool on the back of his neck as he looked down at the materia in his hands, it's green glow backed by the countless yellow and white lilies around his feet. There was a light pressure against his back and the awareness that he was not alone. Her chuckle was as light and airy as it had always been as she leaned back against him, her long twist of hair brushing the back of his neck.

“ _Well done, Cloud.”_

And then he was back in the street, arm outstretched as he watched the energy soar across the ground and towards Terra's back. The light of the twisted and coiled back on itself as it fought to form a single image. The angel reached for Terra, wings spread wide and arms outstretched as if to catch her as she fell It faded into her back as the demon before her began to withdraw, taking her life with it as it solidified and turned its back to her. As it sailed into the sky, he watched Terra's broken body crumple to the ground haloed in that familiar green light.

But, if it had failed...she wouldn't be glowing.

Cramming the materia into his pocket, Cloud nearly fell as he started running again. A cataclysm was forming in the sky beyond the hilltop but his his could only focus on his fallen friend even as Chaos began to scream. He fell to his knees beside her as the cacophony of Judgment deafened him. The glow was still hovering over her and he watched as it knit flesh and bone back together before him. As her crushed neck finished reforming, he pressed a bare wrist to her artery, his shaking now becoming extremely apparent as he tried to focus. The fluttering heartbeat came to life as he waited; it was steady and growing stronger with each beat that passed.

Without a thought, he slid his hands under her and forced himself to his feet. Terra was no slip of a girl, broad shouldered and strong she shouldn't have been easy to heft by any means. He chalked it up to adrenaline as he turned and fled down the hill as fast as he could manage. Even fueled by adrenaline, the dead weight and trailing limbs made carrying her difficult. A light began to flare up behind him, casting his shadow across the road in front of him and stretching it wildly out of proportion. He began to curse as he realized the shock wave would be right behind what he assumed was an explosion.

He barely had time to brace his arms from the moment she first moved her head to when she screamed. He stumbled slightly as she gave a weak flail but forced himself to stay upright as he dove around a corner and and down a new street. No shock wave came after the explosion, but when he looked skyward he watched fire race across what was once a sky, lightning ripping along behind it. The cataclysm began to rain downwards as chunks of earth squeeze through the closing gaps in the sky and began to fall slowly as it caught between the respective gravity of each world.

“You back with me?” He called to her, hoping she could hear him over the noise. He nearly stumbled as he dodged around a flaming car as a chunk of the building near it came down and threw it in his path by sheer force. He needed to get them both out of the open before the falling buildings took them out.

The cafe at the far end of the street boasted brick walls and pillars that seemed to be the strength of the entire building. Even with the fire and earth beginning to fall from the sky as the worlds began to tear apart it seemed like the most secure place they could go. Sprinting across the road, he dove into the alleyway behind it, vaguely aware of her head rolling back to stare upwards. He actually found himself wordlessly praying that she hadn't seen the firestorm above. She was barely alive as it was and the sight of it might put her deeper in shock.

The alleyway ended abruptly with a brick wall and sure enough, right where it should be, a back door to the cafe, a fire escape by the look of it, hung barely open from the occupants evacuating. Edging a boot under the bottom of the barely ajar door, he kicked hard and forced it open with a loud bang. He let it swing behind him as he carried her through and into the darkness of the vacant kitchen. Agony ripped through his knees as they began to buckle with the adrenaline fading. He'd gone too far, done too much.

He barely got her down to the cold floor and took a knee to help keep her upright before his muscles started to fail. His arms felt like dead weight already and his legs wouldn't last much longer. He situated her upright against a metal cabinet of some kind, carefully guiding her weakened form so she wouldn't crumple.

“What's happening?” She asked, her voice frail and quavering in a way that reinforced that she shouldn't be alive.

“The worlds are breaking apart. Could take us all with them.” He was panting, his lungs burning from the smoke and the over exertion.

“The Palace? You--”

“Never made it. Didn't try.” He finally collapsed, his hands falling away from her shoulders to catch him and barely drag his now practically dead weight self against the cabinet as well. Something heavy struck the roof and he flinched at the sound, half expecting the ceiling to cave in on top of them. More thuds followed as the slow falling debris began to strike, no doubt leveling the city block around them.

“Didn't try?”

He leaned back heavily in the cabinet and reached into the pocket where he'd stowed the materia. It was warm to the touch as he pulled it out.

“Was never going to.” He rested heavily against the cabinet, his head thudding back against it heavily as he held up the glowing orb for her to see. He stared at it a moment as she studied it as well, a strange sort of knot forming somewhere deep in his chest.The materia had returned to it's original shade but... The green...it was the same color as the lifestream...but also...her hair. He'd gotten a good look at the green strands as they smacked him in the face when he'd kicked in the door and it was the same shade. Were they connected? Couldn't be. She was from a completely different world. But...

“I don't understand.” Simple and to the point as always, her words broke his train of thought.

“It's a Revive materia. I've been hanging onto it for a long time. If it hadn't worked, I'd have gone with you.”

“Revive?” A tiny intake of breath. He was grateful that he didn't have to actually say it.

“Yeah, like bringing someone back to life.” He turned it over in his hand and she saw scuff marks on one side of it. “I found my sword broken in a gutter, but this was still there. I didn't think it would work.”

“I still don't understand.”

“In my world, when someone gives up their life willingly, you can't save them. “ He stared at the orb in his hands unblinking, old pain and anger trying to find space in his chest once more. “I tried to use it to save her and it wouldn't work. She just..left. So I kept it and put everything I had into it; thinking maybe one day it could help me stop another sacrifice. And it did.”

“You...Are you telling me that you cultivated ReRaise, when it didn't exist in your world?”

“Is that what you call it? I just cast before you died and well...it worked. I thought I had gotten there too late but... You were breathing when I picked you up.” He closed his hand around the orb and hung his wrist, the realization of what he had seen washed over him. It was nothing short of a miracle that Terra was sitting next to him alive. “I watched them kill you, Terra. You shouldn't be alive.”

She shifted next to him, her shoulder moving faintly as she looked at something in her hands. He heard a soft sigh before she raised the strange little object into the light.

“I think this is yours.” Her voice was soft but hollow in the dark kitchen as the light from the door fell across the lily in her hands. His heart lurched at the sight of the pale yellow blossom, the light shining faintly through the petals as it lay pure and perfect across her open palm. The smell washed over him in an instant, the memory of green eyes and a kindly smile settling into his mind like only an old ache could.

His fingers quaked as he reached for it, telling himself it was exhaustion but there would never been any hiding this sadness. He turned it over in his hand, staring at the fragile bloom, the sense that he was holding a miracle overwhelming.

“Did she say anything?” His voice sounded flat even to his own ears.

“I was admonished for thinking you'd let me leave and told to give you this.” She shook her head and held up her hands as if expecting an argument. “She didn't tell me her name.”

“Aerith.” It came out blunt and short as he tore his eyes from the flower and looked to Terra in the darkness. That same familiar glow met him as she stared back, unblinking. There was hope there, and a bit of sadness he doubted even she could explain. “Her name was Aerith and she made you stay.”

“She didn't do it for me.”

“No, she wouldn't have. Not her style.” He slumped hard, hanging his head as he fought back tears he refused to shed again.

“Well, then.” Cloud nearly jumped as she sat up and turned suddenly, stronger now that she had been a moment ago. He glanced at her, catching the faintest hint of a smirk on her lips as she leaned forward and took hold of his pauldron strap. Her fingers were gentle beneath the leather, finely trained from countless days wearing armor, and tucked the lily in place behind it. “This might be. So, keep it close.”

He scoffed gently in surprise as she patted the strap across his chest. This was exactly what Aerith would have done; there was no way Terra could have ever known that. She flinched as she pulled away, the sounds of the receding chaos outside catching up with her. He understood that, there was nothing worse than the silence after a cataclysm. No way to be certain if you were alive or dead, only the silence punctuated by your own beating heart before the pain set in. He was glad when she was able to lean back against the cabinet on her own, she was definitely growing stronger with each passing minute. The spell had worked...it had worked.

“You didn't even know her...how did you--?”

“Don't have to know someone to respect or understand them. Don't need someone to know you to protect them, either.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because it's true.”

“I know, it's part of why I didn't go back.”

“Hm?”

He felt her shift next to him, no doubt confused and he couldn't blame her. The sudden memories he was sitting on were probably going to come as a shock. He wanted to consider her too delicate in her recovery but as he glanced at her curious face he knew she'd most likely try to kill him if he did that. To be fair, that was a fight he did not want to see.

“When you wouldn't let me help you, I remembered. I remembered everything. Three wars, nightmares and death...and you.”

Cloud knew what was coming as her head fell forward. The misery came off her in waves that he had not expected her to be keeping hidden. As he reached down to lay a hand atop her own on the floor, she began to tremble and he was glad that she was finally allowing herself to cry. She had kept it quiet for so long, only trusting him and never trying to get him to remember. The chances that she believed him better off without her were highly likely.

He realized his face was wet after a moment, his eyes barely stinging as tears streamed slowly from the corners of his eyes. There was guilt at the thought of her having to do this alone, but more than that there was his own relief at being able to give her what must have felt like a great gift by simply remembering at last. Yes, he had given her another chance at life, but this was probably far more important to her than even that. Emotion was still new to her, he was certain, but when she did attach it was strongly and he did have to admit that he appreciated her for it.

“You good?” He asked after a time when the quiet sniffles had stopped.

“She said you wouldn't let me go.” She sounded weak and her throat tight from crying as she choked out the words. “Said it like I should have known.”

“She wasn't wrong.” His tears were drying as he smirked at her. Terra should have known better. With the amount of times they had raced into the fray with their half-assed but functional strategy and this strange friendship they had built...he wasn't about to lose another companion. At least she could still be naive after everything.

“Don't be an ass.”

“It's in my nature.” He let himself chuckle at the indignation in her words. “You should know that I'll come get you. Whether you like it or not. We've done too much already to just walk away and have it end.”

Terra raised her free hand to wipe at her face with one of those strange half sleeves she wore and while she was distracted he wiped at one side of his face with the back of a glove. When she slumped back against the metal behind them more heavily than before, he knew that her strength, regaining or otherwise, was spent. She needed to recover. Healing magic could knit skin and bone but blood wasn't always in the bargain. She needed rest and a hot meal if she was going to find her strength again anytime soon. But with the roar of the fires around the city and the panic that would be the aftermath of the disaster, they couldn't afford to take to the streets just yet. Plus, there was no way he could carry both of them right now.

Casually, he released her hand and raised his arm. If she hadn't regained enough blood or was in shock from the new spell she would get cold very quickly. He did admit to himself, however, that it would be nice just to have someone close for a little while. Thankfully, she tucked neatly against his side and rested her head against his shoulder, her body already becoming dead weight again.

“We're stuck with each other.” He quipped, a poor attempt at humor. She laughed lightly anyway and it got a chuckle out of him as well. Smiling and laughing were still hard, but it did happen on occasion. It felt bizarre and foreign but it could come naturally and he considered that improvement to a degree. His soul and mind would never fully heal from the horrors he had seen, but if he could laugh it made him just a little bit more human every time.

“Get some sleep. It'll be a while before we can go find survivors.”

“I'm glad you're back, Cloud.” Her voice was very quiet and for a moment he thought he might lose her again but her breathing evened out and he knew she'd be asleep very quickly. He settled his still wet cheek across the top of her head and was struck by a scent he couldn't place. It wasn't lilies, like Aerith had always smelled of. This was...roses? They were filthy, there was no way this woman could smell of roses. But it was there, hiding beneath the dirt and scent of old blood, like an undertone of magic dancing along her skin.

He had forgotten that too it seemed.

Roses and lilies...his life had turned into a garden by happenstance. And just for a moment, he let himself enjoy it.

“I think I've missed you too, Terra.”

\------------

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